Bid For Secrecy Rejected In Apple Vs. Samsung Patent Case

Apple and Samsung are set to battle out a vicious patent case on July 30th. If you’ve been keeping tabs on the whole thing, Apple has accused Samsung of infringing on a number of different patents. Late tonight, July 17th, US District Court Judge Lucy Koh rejected Apple and Samsung’s request to keep important legal documents out of the public eye.

In the statement regarding the privacy request, Judge Koh wrote, “it appears that the parties have overdesignated confidential documents and are seeking to seal information that is not truly sealable.” In addition to that she noted, “only documents of exceptionally sensitive information that truly deserve protection will be allowed to be redacted or kept from the public.”

According to Reuters, Apple and Samsung have been given one week to refile their requests. Sealing legal documents in regards to intellectual property is a common practice in cases like this. It appears Apple and Samsung were overstepping the boundary a bit.

The whole trial is set to begin on July 30th. If Apple wins against Samsung, it could mean a permanent U.S. ban of many Samsung smartphones. Apple has already been granted their request to ban the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, but the legal wildfire is just starting.